found this on foxnews.com
WASHINGTON — President Bush said Thursday he is not inclined to raise taxes to pay for bridge repairs across the United States following the collapse last week of the span over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis.
But the president pledged that his administration is doing whatever it can to determine that America's bridges are safe.
Speaking to reporters at the White House before taking off for a long weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush said he would wait on a report from Transportation Secretary Mary Peters before deciding on how to address the ailing bridges in the U.S.
But in keeping with his political philosophy, he suggested he's unlikely to back current efforts in Congress to raise the gas tax by 5 cents per gallon. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has suggested that the country could raise the estimated $9 billion per year over the next 20 years estimated to be needed to pay for upgrades on 70,000 bridges defined as "structurally deficient."
"As you probably know the public works committee is the largest committee, one of the largest committees in the House of Representatives. From my perspective the way it seems to work is that each member on that committee gets to set his or her own priority first. And then whatever's left over is spent to the funding formula. That's not the right way to prioritize the people's money," the president said.
Bush called Thursday's press conference in part to extol the successes of the U.S. economy.
"Our economy is growing in large part because America has the most ambitious, educated and innovative people in the world," Bush said in the White House's Brady Press Briefing Room before leaving for Kennebunkport, Maine.
The president said that to stay competitive in the global marketplace, America must continue to be leaders in creativity. To aid that effort, he said he will sign H.R. 2272, the America Competes Act of 2007, which is aimed at better positioning the country to compete in the global economy. The measure calls for spending $33.6 billion over the next three years for science, technology, engineering and mathematics research and education programs across four federal agencies.
"The bill I will sign today will ensure we remain the most competitive and innovative in the world," he said.
The president also was facing questions about a number of things, including the five-year running war in Iraq and political unrest in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an ally in the War on Terror.
The midmorning session was Bush's first full news conference since July 12 when he inaugurated the newly refurbished White House briefing room. Since then, he has had brief question-and-answer sessions with Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, and Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai.
After leaving for the Bush family compound in Maine, the president's long weekend at his family retreat will be interrupted by a lunch Saturday with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is vacationing in New Hampshire.
The president is to return to the White House on Sunday and then head out the next day for his Texas ranch. He will stay away from Washington while Congress is on its August recess, but has several trips scheduled, including a tête-a-tête with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Aug. 20-21 in Ottawa.
